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Indian Wars
"Indian Wars" is the fifteenth episode of Miami Vice's fourth season. The episode premiered on February 26, 1988. Summary Tubbs gets involved with a group of Native Americans try to save their homeland from the drug dealers trying to muscle in. Plot Castillo is working undercover with a dealer named Acosta (Joe Lala), who doesn't trust anyone but Latinos, which is why he is involved. Acosta is wanting to make sure nothing interferes with a man named Levec's (Joseph Turkel) deliveries. That night, Castillo & Acosta meet at the Orange Bowl, a helicopter arrives to make a delivery when suddenly the lights come on and a group of Native American commandos storm the meet, shooting down several of Acosta's & Levec's men, take the helicopter and the drugs. Trudy finds one of the dead commandos is a LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) agent, unusual since you don't get out of LRRP, and a Miccosukee Indian, so Castillo has Tubbs get in touch with Sergeant Pine at Metro, a Seminole Indian, for assistance. Commander Pursley from Metro expresses his concern for Castillo working undercover, for the potential of losing him. Pine says the Miccosukees have no drug runners on their reservation, but to go see Chief Jumper (E. Claude Richards) who has relaxed some of the old customs to allow bingo halls and other things, Jumper refers Tubbs (as Cooper, an author investigating the Miccosukee way of life) to see Becky Wells (Lorraine Morin-Torre) to give him some insight on the culture there. Levec and Acosta are working on another drop, and assures Castillo (as Melendez) they will ensure security is better the next time, because the Indians are preventing the deliveries. Tubbs has nothing on the tribe that ties into the commando raid, but will continue investigating. Becky holds tours of the reservation and takes Tubbs to see alligator wrestling. Levec meets with Chief Jumper abuot the recent commando activity, as he has provided the tribe money for the different improvements, and Levec wants the Chief to keep his braves under control. Crockett gets the list of ex-LRRP's in the area and all are at the Miccosukee reservation, including Joe Dan Jumper (Patrick Bishop), the Chief's son. Joe Dan & his father have a disagreement over the Chief misleading the tribe on how the money was gotten for the new clinic and other improvements. Tubbs & Becky take a boat ride around the reservation, then Joe Dan asks why Tubbs is here exploiting his people for a book, and after a little bit of race history, he wants to see more about the Miccosukee people. Castillo meets with Acosta again and a meet is set for 30 keys at Big Cypress, in Miccosukee land, Castillo backs off until Acosta mentions having enough firepower to stop them (and 5 points per key). Castillo cannot reach Tubbs on his car phone and Crockett hasn't heard from him either. Castillo orders Crockett to remain at OCB. Joe Dan takes Tubbs out to a lake where the cocaine is cut open and thrown in, then Castillo's meet goes down, and Acosta's men are blown up. Tubbs has concluded Joe Dan wants to stop the pushers and the Chief is in league with the dealers. Trudy gets the DOD files on Joe Dan and finds he was wounded in the Grenada conflict and took a Section 8 after being in the VA hospital. Chief Jumper holds a tribal council and again Joe Dan confronts his father on the use of drug money to finance the tribe's improvements, and vows to deal with the pushers themselves. Castillo meets with Levec who took care of his perceived security problem--Acosta (drowned & stuffed in an aquarium)--and Castillo fears the Chief is next, Tubbs will speak with Becky & Joe Dan to cut down the body count, but before he can, the Chief is kidnapped from the reservation. While Joe Dan and his men prepare to find the Chief, Trudy gets the VA report on Joe Dan, which showed he is suffering from PTSD, but his SSI checks are being sent to a very expensive condo in Boca, not the reservation. Castillo reaches Becky on Tubbs' car phone who tells him he went with Joe Dan to Levec's place, armed with crossbows and other weapons, and kill everyone, including Levec. Castillo arrives but too late, but Tubbs has figured out Joe Dan actually kidnapped his own father and he's at the penthouse, with Levec's drugs (the drugs dumped before was fake). Tubbs & Castillo arrive to arrest him, but not before saying "better to die a hero, than live on your knees" and jumping out the condo balcony, killing himself. Notes *The Orange Bowl hosted 68 Orange Bowls and five Super Bowls (the final one was Super Bowl XIII) and was home to the University of Miami Hurricane football team before closing in 2008, then demolished to build a new retractable stadium for the Florida (Miami) Marlins, scheduled for completion in 2012. *The Miccosukee Reservation still exists, and now they have a resort & casino on the site which has sponsored a NASCAR Sprint Cup car. *Tubbs gives a nice soliloquy on both African-American & Native American race relations in this country (see quote below). Music *"God's Gift" by The Silencers (Joe Dan and people destroy cocaine, and Castillo's meet) Quotes *"Since we were here and all of South Florida was our land, we don't feel Washington gave us anything! -- Becky Wells to tourist *"Do you think you're the only people of color who have to crawl on their knees in this country? You give me a little Trail of Tears and I'll give you a Little Rock. For every Indian massacred, I'll give you a lynching. You had Custer, we've got the Klan. What's the difference?...I'm black, you're red, to the white man, we're both colored, simple as that." -- Tubbs to Joe Dan about each race's battles in the United States Category:Miami Vice Season 4 Episodes